Wow, okay, I honestly did not expect such a positive response to this story. I really just wrote it down because it was really bothering me and I couldn't really focus on my other book, and just decided to publish it. But from what I can see, you guys actually LIKE this book! The support is amazing, and so are all of you! I love you all, and hope you enjoy this very angsty chapter (well, more angsty than normal, anyway).
But before we begin, how about some review answers?:
To the person who reviewed as a guest, and said, and I quote, "You and ur story sucks. There is a KF titan too y'know and KF dies in YJ tf is wrong with u" Reply; I'm sorry you don't find my story interesting, and yes, I do know that Kid Flash was a Titan, but in this AU he becomes a Titan between year two and year three in the five year gap between season one and season two of YJ. Wally also dies at the end of season two, and this story takes place after season one of YJ, so he would indeed still be alive. Also, I believe you may have been just trying to get a rise out of me by the insult, (I would imagine it would be because I said that every review helps, and this one actually did since you seemed confused about KF) but honestly, I stopped caring what people thought on a personal level when I was in about third grade and a certain person moved out of my district. I can strongly say that ever since then comments like that just don't affect me at all! Good try, though, but it would be a bit more effective if you used proper spelling and grammar.
Red X (Guest): "Wow, and just when Batman would enter…" Reply; Yes, it wasn't my intention to start the schedule at this point of the story, but it just kinda happened. Sorry guys!
Serlenia: "Just glad you aren't quitting this fic! I love it so far and can't wait for the next chapter. Especially after how the last chapter left off" Reply; I am really happy to hear that you like this book! And, on Wattpad, I am fairly notorious for putting books on hood or not completeing them, but I fully intend to with both 'Changing Tides' and 'To Lose a Bird', so no worries there! The only reason I would ever quit this fanfic would be if I got all electronics taken away, but I seriously doubt that happening.
Now, on to the chapter!
This is rated T for a reason! Mild swearing ahead!
Chapter 4: Batsy
The air seemed to become physically darker as the static fell away on the overhead speakers. No one said a word, but they all mentally prepared themselves for the tension that was bound to happen. Especially Raven, who could sense every emotion being sent, and her eyes involuntarily glowed white for a moment as the feelings overwhelmed her.
Robin, as everyone seemed to expect, was the worst. His whole form was tense and rigid, his masked eyes narrowed into slits, and his gloved hands clenched into tight fists. Underneath the gloves his knuckles turned a sheet white, almost trembling with the strain being forced upon them. The ebony's breath was shallow, and if not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, one might think he stopped breathing all together.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he heard the almost silent footsteps coming closer to the closed hangar door. No one else could hear it (except for Superboy), and they all jumped slightly as, with an automated hiss, the door swung open.
No one dared to move as the dark apparition stalked into the room, his face devoid of any emotion.
They watched with bated breath when he came to a stop in front of Robin, both staring at each other in silence. Raven floated closest to Robin, and every part of her bristled with anticipation as the tension between the two figures increased.
"Robin." Batman said flatly, with only the slightest nod of his head in stiff greeting.
"Batman." Robin answered in the same stiff tone, refusing to be the one to break the Bats gaze.
Silence ensued afterward, the heros glancing at each other awkwardly as the scene continued to play out before them. Raven once again drifted towards her leader, earning a questioning glare from the man shrouded in darkness.
But unlike most people, who shied away from any glare given by Batman, she met his gaze head on, barely acknowledging the small sigh of relief from the ebony beside her. If Batman was suprised by this, he didn't show it, but as the girl set her own, almost protective glare on him, he let his suprise be shown for a millisecond before hardening once again.
He made a mental note to definetely do a more thorough background check with her later.
His gave moved from Raven, training back onto Robin for a moment. Any relief he felt at the man's diverted gaze was now replaced by apprehension. They held each others eyes for a second longer before the man turned his scrutinizing gaze on the other three Titans.
All of them visibly squirmed under his eye, and Batman gave a inaudible grunt of satisfaction. Not at the team his former protégé had formed, but more so at the fact they were slightly afraid of him.
"Are you going to introduce me." it was a statement, not a question, and Robins eyes flashed in anger and annoyance. If he had somehow forgotten why he left, right now was a very cruel reminder.
"Don't see the point." he scoffed. "They obviously already know who you are, and you have probably stalked through all of their personal files already."
The glare that was turned on him was fierce. He immediately had the urge to shrink back. Then he reminded himself that he wasn't some lost nine year old kid anymore, and his defiance sprung back into his being with a vengeance.
"I don't see you denying it." the ebony said after a moment of silence, an almost victorious smirk playing on his lips.
Batman let loose a low growl from the back of his throat, making the other heros (aside from Raven, who only watched the man with caution) slightly curl in on themselves.
The Titans felt slightly violated that the man in front of them supposedly knew all of their secrets. And, more importantly, who they were behind the superhero masks. Most of them had a very good reason to keep their past lives hidden, and to know that Batman had looked through them without a second thought thoroughly irked them. Hero or not, that seemed like a massive invasion of one's privacy.
None of them would voice their discomfort aloud, though. It would be suicide to stand up to the Dark Knight when they didn't even know each other.
"Um...sorry to interrupt your little glaring contest, but, Batman, didn't you say you would come tomorrow since there was a problem in Gotham?" Wally asked in a small voice, emitting a small yelp and hiding behind Artemis when the Bats gaze turned towards him.
"The problem was dealt with, and I saw no point in delaying the inevitable."
"You make it sound like it was a burden on your soul just to come here."
Everyone whipped their heads toward Robin as he scoffed and crossed his arms, sending his mentor the harshest glare that anyone had ever seen on the bird. Mouths dropped open in shock as Robin scoffed.
"Well, knowing you, it probably was."
Batman's eyes narrowed dangerously, and his fists clenched together at his sides. Their gazes withered the more innocent heros in the room, and Beast Boy yelped as he turned into a kitten and jumped into Starfires arms.
"Robin, you know better than anyone that-"
"You're pretty much a grade A asshole? Yeah, I know that from personal experience." Batman's arms started to shake in rage, and the glare he sent to the teen in front of him could kill.
"I see you haven't matured at all since the two years I've seen you. You're still the child I knew." At this, it was Robins turn to shake from rage. The insult had nipped at his temper, and it took all his self control to keep from lashing out.
"And I see that you're still as demanding and irritating as ever. I guess neither of us have changed."
The silence that ensued made everyone in the room (even Raven) shift on their feet, looking anywhere but the two clashing people standing in the middle of the room.
The glares and sneers that they sent each others way would kill others in sight. Neither broke eye contact, both communicating their burning rage in the stand off.
Behind the ebony, the green kitten enveloped in the princesses arms meowed in distress. Starfire looked on as the two continued to stare at each other as if they despised their existence. Cyborg stood awkwardly next to the Tameranean, wallowing in his own distress. He longed to just break up the conflict, but knew that if he attempted to he might have to deal with a flying projectile.
The Young Justice team was in similar turmoil, itching to help but not knowing how to defuse the situation without causing themselves or the others physical injury.
"I guess not." Batman finally muttered, everyone breathing a sigh of relief as the man turned away from the ebony with a swish of his cape.
Robin himself refused to relax in the slightest as he watched his ex-mentors retreating form. Then his posture only tensed more as an unwelcome image popped into the forefront of his mind.
Instead of being at Mount Justice, surrounded by friends and allies, he was back in a dark warehouse, ticking gears the only sound as Slade's dark form retreated from the control room. He sucked in a alarmed breath as the image faded, and he stared in alarm when the black cape disappeared out of the hangar.
The memory was very unwelcome, and brought back the conflicted feelings that Slade had wrought upon him during the apprenticeship.
The entire time, the madman compared himself to Batman, whether it was figure, intellect, or personality traits, he always found a way to draw similarities between him and the Dark Knight. It made his teeth grind at the time, but when he was free he realised, very reluctantly, that he had been right.
Slade and Batman were very similar. In almost every way, too. When Robin first realized this, he tried to deny it, write if off as Slade still toying with his mind. But as time wore on, he couldn't help but agree.
In all honesty, the only thing separating the two of them from being the same person was a code of morals.
And possibly a rule of insanity, but Robin was still trying to figure out if Slade was criminally insane or just freakishly intelligent.
Robin closed his eyes and forced his body to take a deep, calming breath. He forced any images and feelings about that topic away, and turned to look at the other teens on the room, who were still unsure what to do.
"That went well." the empath announced suddenly, and everyone turned to her with incredulous looks. Raven merely rose an eyebrow.
"'That went well'?! I thought they were going to kill each other! No offense, Robin." the ebony merely shrugged at Artemis's outburst.
"Trust me, it really could have been a lot worse." Robin replied, and he got multiple raised eyebrows in response. Some were from the comment, but three were of slight worry, as they could hear an underlying sharp and yet solemn tone.
They thought it was from the encounter, but the Boy Wonder knew differently.
"Might I suggest that we move to somewhere more comfortable? The lounge, perhaps?"
At Aqualads suggestion, the teens were all greatful for the change in atmosphere and whole-heartedly moved their way to the lounge.
The Titans marveled at the sight of Mount Justice. The large expanse of the cave seemed to go on forever, and not once did any of them feel claustrophobic. The overall aesthetic was very simple, but it also felt like a home. There was a large control console in the center of the room, along with a pad on the ground that they assumed was for training. All of the other objects in the room were regular home supplies, however, and added to the comfortable feeling.
While the Titans took in their surroundings, Robin was having an inner battle with all of the information that had been thrown in his face over the course of a couple days.
First, Slade appears once more, causing trouble for his old team. In response they contact the only source they have on the enigma, which would be the Titans.
Then, he somehow got coerced into flying across the country, most likely into a trap that the psychopath had planted just for him. And he is wittingly walking right into it, just to appear slightly more normal and to not raise anymore suspicion from Young Justice.
Finally, and most importantly, Batman. The man was obviously still livid, not having a proper way to release his anger from two years ago. Honestly, Robin wouldn't be suprised if Batman would try to keep him there longer than needed just because he needed a suitable outlet for his pent up anger.
And then, there was the memory comparison in the hangar.
Robin shook his head, dispelling all of the stressful thoughts from his mind. With a deep breath the ebony made his way over to one of the couches, sitting down between Beast Boy and Raven, with Cyborg and Starfire on either side of them. The other teens room up the space accordingly, with M'gann settling with hovering in the hair with her legs crossed.
The silence between them became longer, neither team too sure where or how to start a conversation. An air of awkwardness permiated the room, and finally, someone found a way to break the silence.
Although, he did it in a less than great way.
"So, you've dealt with this Slade guy before. Was he a big baddie back in Jump, or just someone you dealt with when he sprang up?"
The Titans all looked to their leader, who they saw crunch the fabric on his thighs into tight fists and narrow his eyes. It was quickly decided that someone else would answer the speedsters question, even though it was clearly directed to Robin.
"He was sorta in the middle. He wasn't too much of a regular criminal, but when he did get caught, it was either because he wanted us to come or he sent his robots." Cyborg put simply, not wanting to go into too much detail for his leaders sake.
The other teens soaked up the information like a sponge, but were slightly disappointed when they were given a vague answer. They were beginning to believe that this 'Slade' was a Taboo subject for the Titans.
"You haven't seen or fought him, have you?" Robin asked out of the blue. He caught the Titans off guard with his question, but let it slide as the other teens were glad to answer.
"No, we have not. We found out about him from a weapons shipment we were assigned to stop. One of the workers mentioned that all of the weapons were to be transferred to the West coast, to a buyer simply known as 'Slade'. That was our first encounter with the name involved, and since then we have heard his name come up quite a few times." Aqualad replied, the others nodding their heads in agreement.
Robin let out a little huff. "That's what I thought."
"What, you're saying you knew we've never seen him before?" Zatanna asked incredulously. "How in the world would you know that?"
"None of you are dead, unless there was some other member I didn't know about."
Stunned silence followed the ebony's statement, the Young Justice team staring at him with wide eyes, while the Titans looked at him in worry.
"So he's that bad, huh?" Artemis said in a hushed tone, the Titans nodding slowly in agreement.
"You don't know the half of it." Raven replied, glancing a bit nervously at Robin, who seemed to be lost in his own mind. But she could clearly sense his fear and anger.
"Well, I believe we should leave the rest of the information for the mission briefing, shouldn't we?" the Atlantean wad greatful that he could see the slight nods of approval.
The meeting continued without any hitch, everyone steering clear of any work related subjects. Everyone seemed to be getting along well, but Robin couldn't concentrate on the conversation, and in turn, neither could Raven.
She was getting even worried for her leader and-dare she say it-friend. His emotions had once again spiralled out of control, the most noticeable being anger. Whether it was for Slade, some of his friends, or even his ex-mentor, she was not sure. But it was very clearly there, and in a very unhealthy amount for an adult, let alone a teenager.
Raven wasn't going to worry too much, however. She knew how stressful this must be for him, and wasn't going to judge possible misplaced emotions. In her mind, she knew that everything would turn out fine, and everything that bothered Robin before would be resolved with this possible once in a lifetime visit.
It had too, if they were ever going to go back to the Tower with the strange normality they knew as their lives.
What, did you think everything between Batsy and the Bird would be resolved in one chapter? Yeah, right, not with their rocky relationship…